First Issues - 1861 to 1864

page 6.5

Italy

The stamps for nine Italian states have already been shown and a new convention will be introduced here, to review the commemoratives of all the previous state or province stamps when the parent country issues its first. These are shown overleaf and include a rather nice miniature sheet from a 1985 Rome exhibition.

24th February 1862SG1 Sc17

Commemorative1910 SG81 Sc115 50th anniversary of the freedom of Naples and Sicily

World's First Airmail1917 SG102 Sc-C1Express o/p

Charity1911 SG86 Sc119 50th anniversary of the union of Italian States

Official1875 SG-O21 Sc-O1

Post Due1863 SG-D6 Sc-J1

Italy’s 24th February 1862 #1 had a rather complicated gestation. The Italian states were united by 1860 under Sardinia’s King Victor Emmanuel II but national stamps were not issued for two years. During that period the states’ stamps were still used, gradually replaced by the stamps of Sardinia and then the 1862 national stamps were the Sardinian issues with perforations. The
remaining stamps are a pretty ordinary lot (the 1911 ‘charity’ sold at a premium but is not regarded by Scott as a charity stamp), however Italy has the distinction of the first ever airmail, a 1917 overprint. Given that all the other stamp types were issued before 1917, Italy must by definition be the first country to complete the first set, beating Austria’s 1918.

World's First Parcel Post stamp1884 SG-P38 Sc-Q1

World's First Pneumatic Post1913 SG-PE96 Sc-D1

World's First Stereoscopic stamps1956 SG940-41 Sc718-19

The airmail is not Italy’s only innovation, they also brought to the world parcel post (1884), pneumatic post (1913, five cities linked by pneumatic tubes) and stereoscopic stamps (1956, special glasses required).

Italian Social Republic

Campione

Allied Military Government

The Republic

1944 SG57 Sc1

1944 SG1

1943 SG583 Sc1N1

1946 SG678 Sc478

Italy has administrative variants to offer too. Following Italy’s surrender in 1943, Mussolini established the Italian Social Republic, which used Italian overprints (there were also commemorative and post due issues). There was a brief issue in the area of Campione (not found in Scott). Allied Military Government stamps were issued in 1943 and the Republic was established in 1946.